Adaptive polling of information from a device

ABSTRACT

A capability is provided for adaptive polling of a device based on a set of polling control regions configured to control polling of the device. The set of polling control regions is defined based on at least one of a set of control parameters and non-parametric control information. A transition within the set of polling control regions is determined based on a current polling control region and a target polling control region that is determined based on input information received while in the current polling control region. The input information may include at least one of values of one or more parameters in the set of parameters and non-parametric input information. The transition may include remaining in the current polling control region or transitioning to a new polling control region. The transition may be performed based on a rapid up controlled down (RUCD) transition scheme.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure relates generally to polling and, more specifically butnot exclusively, to adaptive polling of information from a device.

BACKGROUND

Polling may be used to collect information in many types of applicationsand environments. For example, polling may be used by a network operatorof a communication network to acquire information from network devicesof the communication network (e.g., to acquire status information,performance statistics, and various other types of information which maybe available from the network devices of communication networks), userpremises equipment utilizing services via the communication network, orthe like. In many types of polling, it may be necessary or desirable todynamically balance the amount of information collected via polling withthe amount of resources consumed in collecting such information.

SUMMARY OF EMBODIMENTS

Various deficiencies in the prior art are addressed by embodiments foradaptive polling of a set of devices to collect information from the setof devices.

In at least some embodiments, an apparatus includes a processor and amemory communicatively connected to the processor, where the processoris configured to control polling of a device based on a set of pollingcontrol regions configured to control polling of the device. The set ofpolling control regions is defined based on at least one of a set ofmultiple control parameters and non-parametric control information. Theset of polling control regions includes at least two polling controlregions. The processor is configured to receive, while in a currentpolling control region, input information including at least one of aset of values associated with the set of multiple control parameters andnon-parametric input information. The processor is configured todetermine a target polling control region, from the set of pollingcontrol regions, based on the input information. The processor isconfigured to determine a transition within the set of polling controlregions based on the current polling control region and the targetpolling control region.

In at least some embodiments, a computer-readable storage medium storesinstructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer toperform a method that is configured to control polling of a device basedon a set of polling control regions configured to control polling of thedevice. The set of polling control regions is defined based on at leastone of a set of multiple control parameters and non-parametric controlinformation. The set of polling control regions includes at least twopolling control regions. The method includes receiving, while in acurrent polling control region, input information including at least oneof a set of values associated with the set of multiple controlparameters and non-parametric input information. The method includesdetermining a target polling control region, from the set of pollingcontrol regions, based on the input information. The method includesdetermining a transition within the set of polling control regions basedon the current polling control region and the target polling controlregion.

In at least some embodiments, a method includes using a processor and amemory for controlling polling of a device based on a set of pollingcontrol regions configured to control polling of the device. The set ofpolling control regions is defined based on at least one of a set ofmultiple control parameters and non-parametric control information. Theset of polling control regions includes at least two polling controlregions. The method includes receiving, while in a current pollingcontrol region, input information including at least one of a set ofvalues associated with the set of multiple control parameters andnon-parametric input information. The method includes determining atarget polling control region, from the set of polling control regions,based on the input information. The method includes determining atransition within the set of polling control regions based on thecurrent polling control region and the target polling control region.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The teachings herein can be readily understood by considering thedetailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary environment in which a network operatorproviding television and communication services to a residentiallocation uses polling to collect information from devices at theresidential location;

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary polling frequency policy for controllingpolling of a device based on a control parameter;

FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary polling state transition diagram for thepolling frequency policy and polling control parameter of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary polling state transition diagram for thepolling frequency policy and polling control parameter of FIG. 2 inwhich the polling frequency policy is based on rapid up controlled down(RUCD);

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary embodiment of state transition control logicfor controlling state transitions for a polling parameter using RUCDwhere the state transitions are controlled based on a single controlparameter and downward state transitions also are controlled using atimer-based transition control mechanism;

FIG. 6 depicts an exemplary partitioning of a two-dimensional controlparameter space into eight regions based on values of the two controlparameters of the two-dimensional control parameter space;

FIG. 7 depicts an exemplary polling state transition diagram for thepolling policy of FIG. 6 in which the polling frequency parameter iscontrolled based on partitioning of a two-dimensional control parameterspace into eight regions;

FIG. 8 depicts an exemplary embodiment of state transition control logicfor controlling state transitions for a polling policy using RUCD wherethe state transitions are controlled based on partitioning of themultiple control parameters into regions and downward state transitionsalso are controlled using a timer-based transition control mechanism;

FIG. 9 depicts an exemplary polling state transition diagram fordecomposition of two control parameters into two single-parametersubsets of control parameters;

FIG. 10 depicts an exemplary polling policy in which state transitionsare controlled based on a single control parameter using athreshold-based state transition control mechanism for downwardtransitions between states;

FIG. 11 depicts an exemplary polling policy in which state transitionsare controlled based on multiple control parameters using athreshold-based state transition control mechanism for downwardtransitions between states;

FIG. 12 depicts an exemplary partitioning of non-parametric controlinformation into nine regions for a trouble ticket system of theexemplary environment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 13 depicts an exemplary set of states/regions supporting use of atleast one of parametric control information and non-parametric controlinformation to control polling of a device;

FIG. 14 depicts one embodiment of a method for using at least one ofparametric control information and non-parametric control information tocontrol polling of a device; and

FIG. 15 depicts a high-level block diagram of a computer suitable foruse in performing functions described herein.

To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have beenused, where possible, to designate identical elements common to thefigures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

An adaptive polling capability is presented herein. In at least someembodiments, the adaptive polling capability supports control overpolling for various types of polling policies (e.g., for controlling oneor more of the set of devices polled, the polling frequency, theinformation that is collected via polling, or the like, as well asvarious combinations thereof). In at least some embodiments, theadaptive polling capability supports control over polling forinformation based on at least one of parametric control information(which may include single parameter based control, multiple parameterbased control, or the like) and non-parametric control information, aswell as various combinations thereof. The adaptive polling capabilitysupports various other functions as discussed in additional detailherein.

In general, polling may be used to collect information in many types ofapplications and environments. For example, polling may be used by anetwork operator of a communication network to collect information fromnetwork devices of the communication network (e.g., to collect statusinformation, performance statistics, and various other types ofinformation which may be available from the network devices ofcommunication networks). For example, polling may be used by a networkoperator to collect information from devices located at the residentiallocations of customers of the network operator (e.g., from networkterminal units (NTUs), residential gateway (RGs), and set top box (STBs)of residential locations). For example, polling may be used to collectdata from sensors of a sensor network (e.g., temperature and wind speedsensors of a weather monitoring sensor network, body temperature andheart rate of public safety workers, or the like). It will beappreciated that polling may be performed in various other types ofapplications and environments. The use of polling to acquire informationfrom a set of devices may be better understood by way of an example ofan application in which polling is utilized to collect information fromdevices at a residential location served by a network operator, aspresented in FIG. 1.

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary environment in which a network operatorproviding television and communication services to a residentiallocation uses polling to collect information from devices at theresidential location.

The exemplary environment 100 includes a residential location (RL) 101,an Internet Protocol (IP)-based access network 120, and a set ofservices 130. The devices at RL 101 include a set top box (STB) 102, aresidential gateway (RG) 103, and a network terminal unit (NTU) 104. TheSTB 102 is connected to the RG 103. The RG 103 is connected to the NTU104. The NTU 104 is connected to IP-based access network 120, via whichcustomers at RL 101 can access the set of services 130 (e.g., televisionservice, Internet service, or the like) of the network operator that aresubscribed to by the customers at RL 101.

The exemplary environment 100 also includes a data collection server(DCS) 141 connected to IP-based access network 120, a data analysisserver (DAS) 142 connected to the DCS 141, and an operator terminal (OT)143 connected to DCS 141 and DAS 142. The DCS 141 is configured to pollSTB 102, RG 103, and NTU 104 at RL 101 in order to collect informationfrom STB 102, RG 103, and NTU 104. The DAS 142 is configured to receiveand analyze information collected by DCS 141. The DCS 141 may beconfigured to control polling of information from devices at RL 101based on information collected by DCS 141 during polling. The DCS 141may be configured to control polling of information from devices at RL101 based on analysis, by DAS 142, of information collected by DCS 141during polling. The DAS 142 may be configured to control polling ofinformation from devices at RL 101 based on analysis of informationcollected by DCS 141. The DCS 141 and DAS 142 may be configured tocooperate in various other ways in order to control polling ofinformation from devices at RL 101. The DCS 141 and DAS 142 maybe beaccessed and managed via OT 143.

The exemplary environment 100 also includes an external system 150 thatis communicatively connected to DCS 141 and DAS 142. The external system150 may be configured to control polling of devices at RL 101 bycontrolling the operation of one or both of DCS 141 and DAS 142. The DCS141 or DAS 142 may be configured to control polling of devices at RL 101based on information received from external system 150 (e.g., based onparametric or non-parametric control information which may be used byDCS 141 of DAS 142 to control polling of devices at RL 101). Forexample, the external system 150 may be a network management system(NMS) of the network operator, a trouble ticket system (TTS) of thenetwork operator, a third-party system (TPS) configured to interfacewith systems of the network operator, or the like.

As described above, the exemplary application depicted in FIG. 1 ismerely one example of use of polling to collect information from a setof devices. Accordingly, various embodiments of the adaptive pollingcapability are described more generally herein outside of the context ofany specific application or environment in which polling may be used tocollect information from devices.

In general, polling is a process whereby a data collection servercollects information from a set of devices (which may include one ormore devices). The polling of a set of devices may be initiated by or inresponse to a trigger from any suitable element or set of elements(e.g., a data collection server, a data analysis server, one of thedevices in the set of devices, a device not included in the set ofdevices, a management system, an external system, or the like, as wellas various combinations thereof). The transport of information collectedduring polling may be provided in any suitable manner (e.g., using atransaction protocol to enable the data collection server to requestthat the device send the information to the data collection server,having the data collection server request that the device initiate afile transfer from the device to a designated IP address provided by thedata collection server, configuring the device to send the informationto the data collection server, or the like). The information collectedduring polling may be handled in various ways (e.g., stored,transmitted, analyzed (e.g., using network analytics where the devicesare network elements in a communication network), or the like, as wellas various combinations thereof) It will be appreciated that at leastsome embodiments of adaptive polling depicted and described herein maybe provided independent of such polling characteristics.

In general, when polling is used to collect information from a set ofdevices, the polling may be performed based on a set of pollingparameters (which also may be referred to herein as a polling policy).For example, the polling parameters may include identification of thedevice(s) in the set of devices to be polled, the frequency of pollingof the device(s), the information to be collected from the device(s), orthe like. There may be two conflicting objectives in determining thesepolling parameters. Namely, while it might be desirable to poll as manydevices as possible, as frequently as possible, and for as muchinformation as possible, polling in this manner may consume a largeamount of resources (e.g., network resources in propagating pollingrequests and responses, processing resources of the polling system andthe devices being polled, and the like). Accordingly, in at least somecases, the polling parameters may be controlled based on various typesof information and analysis (e.g., the amount of information needed fromthe device(s) being polled, resources available for use in polling,costs associated with polling, various tradeoffs between such factors,or the like, as well as various combinations thereof).

In at least some embodiments, an adaptive polling strategy may be usedin order to control polling based on analysis of conflicting pollingobjectives. In at least some adaptive polling strategies for polling aset of devices, one or more of the polling parameters (e.g.,identification of the device(s) to be polled, polling frequency,information to be collected from the device(s) to be polled, or thelike) may be controlled based on one or more of information collectedfrom the device(s), analysis of information collected from the device(s)(e.g., from a data analysis server associated with a data collectionserver controlling polling of the device), or the like. It will beappreciated that adaptive polling of a device may be based on otherfactors and information.

In at least some embodiments, adaptive polling may be configured suchthat the polling frequency and the information being polled from adevice are initially set at a nominal rate during normal circumstancesand then, based on the information collected from the device andinformation from a data analysis server, the polling frequency may beincreased and more information may be collected from the device, therebyallowing the data analysis server to identify any problems more quicklyand more accurately. In at least some embodiments, adaptive polling maybe configured such that resources used to perform polling (e.g., networkresources, storage resources, and the like) are used more effectively.In at least some embodiments, adaptive polling may be configured tosupport rapid scale up and controlled scale down such that (1) when theinformation collected indicates that the device or the network isdegrading, the polling frequency and the amount of information collectedwould increase rapidly, but (2) as the device or the network revertsback to normal, the polling frequency and information will decrease backto normal in a controlled manner. Various embodiments of adaptivepolling are described in additional detail hereinbelow.

In at least some embodiments, adaptive polling of a set of devices maybe based on a set of control parameters (including one or more controlparameters). The value(s) of the control parameter(s) used to controlpolling of the device(s) may be obtained from any suitable source(s) ofsuch information (e.g., via polling of the device(s), from a dataanalysis server (e.g., DAS 142) performing analysis of informationpolled from device(s), from a data analysis server (e.g., DAS 142)performing analysis of information polled from a different device(s),from one or more external systems (e.g., external system 150), or thelike, as well as various combinations thereof). For purposes of clarity,embodiments depicted and described herein are primarily directed tocontrol parameters for which the associated values of the controlparameters are determined via polling.

In at least some embodiments, adaptive polling of a device may be basedon a single control parameter and a set of thresholds for that singlecontrol parameter. For example, where the polling frequency (f_(i)) forpolling of a device depends on the value of a single control parameter(p) and three associated thresholds have been defined (t₁, t₂, and t₃),a polling policy for polling frequency may be specified as follows: (1)poll the device f₁ times per time unit if the value of p≦t₁; (2) pollthe device f₂ times per time unit if the value of t₁<p≦t₂; (3) poll thedevice f₃ times per time unit if the value of t₂<p≦t₃; and (4) poll thedevice f₄ times per time unit if the value of t₃>p. The pollingfrequency policy for this example is depicted in FIG. 2. As depicted inFIG. 2, polling frequency policy 200 is configured such that thefrequency (f) with which the device is polled increases as the value ofthe control parameter (t) increases. It will be appreciated that thecontrol parameter may be any parameter which may serve as a basis formodifying polling frequency. For example, within the context ofexemplary environment 100 of FIG. 1, the control parameter (p) may be aninverse of signal strength, such that as signal strength decreases thevalue of the control parameter (p) increases and, thus, the appropriatedevice of RL 101 is polled more frequently. This enables the networkoperator to dynamically poll the appropriate device of RL 101 morefrequently based on an indication of a problem which may impact serviceto the customers of RL 101 (namely, based on a decrease in signalstrength to RL 101).

In at least some embodiments, adaptive polling of a device may be basedon a state transition control mechanism. The state transition controlmechanism may be configured to control state transitions, where thestates represent the polling policy (e.g., values of the pollingparameters) and the state transitions are controlled based on thecontrol parameter used to control the polling policy (and, thus, thevalues of the polling parameter(s)). For example, in continuation of theexample above in which a single control parameter is used to controlpolling frequency, the states may correspond to the values of thepolling parameter and state transitions may be defined based on valuesof the control parameter and the set of thresholds used to evaluate thevalues of the control parameter. For example, let S_(i) correspond to astate in which the device is polled at polling frequency f_(i). Anexemplary polling state transition diagram for the polling frequencypolicy 200 of FIG. 2 is depicted in FIG. 3. As depicted in FIG. 3,polling state transition diagram 300 specifies control over the pollingfrequency parameter f_(i) according to which the device is polled basedon values of the control parameter (p) and the three thresholds (t₁, t₂,t₃) used to evaluate the values of the control parameter (p). Morespecifically, polling state transition diagram 300 of FIG. 3 isconfigured such that the four values (f₁, f₂, f₃, f₄) of the pollingfrequency parameter (p) are represented using four states (S₁, S₂, S₃,S₄), respectively, and every state may transition directly to everyother state. As a result, where the value of the control parameter pchanges from a value p₁ that is greater than t₃ to a value p₂ that isless than t₁, polling of the device will transition directly from stateS₄ to state S₁. In some cases, however, polling state transition diagram300 may be unsatisfactory at least because (1) fluctuation of theparameter values of the control parameter would cause rapid shifts inpolling frequency, thereby making the system unstable and (2) when thecontrol parameter is near its critical value (indicating that the deviceis operating in its critical region) the polling frequency would be nearits maximum as this is the time during which it is more likely to benecessary or desirable to monitor the performance of the devicefrequently; however, by random chance, the value of the controlparameter may drop in one or more of the polls and, therefore, based onpolling state transition diagram 300, polling frequency would dropaccordingly (which is undesirable as the device may still be operatingin its critical region).

In at least some embodiments, an adaptive polling capability isconfigured to support a Rapid Up Controlled Down (RUCD) property (whichalso may be referred to herein as a Rapid Up Smooth Down property or aRapid Up Slow Down property). In RUCD, adjustment of a polling policyhaving one or more polling parameters is performed such thatmodification of the one or more polling parameters changes relativelyrapidly in one direction and relatively slowly in another direction. Forexample, in RUCD, adjustment of the amount of information collectedduring polling based on a control parameter may be performed such thatthe amount of information collected during polling increases rapidly(relative to the speed at which the amount of information collectedduring polling is decreased) and decreases slowly (relative to the speedat which the amount of information collected during polling isincreased). For example, in RUCD, adjustment of polling frequency basedon a control parameter may be performed such that the polling frequencyincreases rapidly (relative to the speed at which polling frequency isdecreased) and decreases slowly (relative to the speed at which pollingfrequency is increased). It will be appreciated that RUCD may be used toadjust other polling parameters as well as various combinations ofpolling parameters (although, for purposes of clarity, is primarilydiscussed within the context of controlling polling frequency). In RUCD,the changes in the polling parameter(s) may be controlled using varioustransition paths based on one or more state transition controlmechanisms (e.g., one or more of a timer, a counter, a threshold, or thelike, as well as various combinations thereof). It will be appreciatedthat use of RUCD eliminates fluctuations and unwanted scaled down whichmight otherwise be experienced with use of polling policies such aspolling frequency policy 200. An exemplary polling state transitiondiagram for polling frequency policy 200 of FIG. 2, in which the pollingfrequency parameter is controlled using RUCD, is depicted in FIG. 4. Asin polling state transition diagram 300 of FIG. 3, polling statetransition diagram 400 of FIG. 4 specifies control over the pollingfrequency parameter f_(i) according to which the device is polled basedon values of the control parameter (p) and the three thresholds (t₁, t₂,t₃) used to evaluate the values of the control parameters (p). Morespecifically, polling state transition diagram 400 of FIG. 4 isconfigured such that the four values (f₁, f₂, f₃, f₄) of the pollingfrequency parameter (p) are represented using four states (S₁, S₂, S₃,S₄), respectively. However, unlike polling state transition diagram 300of FIG. 3, polling state transition diagram 400 of FIG. 4 does notsupport direct transitions between all combinations of the states S.Rather, polling state transition diagram 400 is configured such thatpolling frequency f can be increased rapidly or slowly (illustratively,rapidly from S₁ to S₄ directly or slowly from S₁ to S₄ via S₂ and S₃),but can only be decreased slowly (namely, polling frequency f, ratherthan rapidly dropping directly from f₄ to f₁, is decreased using asmoother, more controlled transition from f₄ to f₁ which may be realizedby transitioning from S₄ to S₃, from S₃ to S₂, and then from S₂ to S₁).As a result, where the value of the control parameter p changes from avalue p₁ that is greater than t₃ to a value p₂ that is less than t₁,polling of the device will only transition from state S₄ to state S₃,not directly to state S₁. Thus, polling state transition diagram 400 ofFIG. 4 is configured such that when the value of control parameter (p)decreases, polling of the device will only transition to the next lowerstate (e.g., from S₄ to S₃) regardless of the value of control parameter(p).

It will be appreciated that, although FIGS. 2-4 primarily depict anddescribe specific control of a polling parameter based on a specifictype of control parameter (namely, control of polling frequency usingfour possible values for the polling frequency parameter defined basedon a control parameter having three defined thresholds associatedtherewith), it will be appreciated that any polling parameter(s) may becontrolled in any manner based on any suitable control parameter. Forexample, polling frequency may be controlled in a manner for supportingten different values for the polling frequency parameter based on ninethresholds of the control parameter. For example, polling frequency andthe information collected from the polled device may be controlled basedon a different type of control parameter (e.g., based on bit error raterather than signal strength). It will be appreciated that these examplesare merely a few of the various ways in which a set of pollingparameters may be controlled based on a single control parameter. Anexemplary embodiment of state transition control logic for controllingstate transitions for a polling parameter based on a single controlparameter (e.g., for polling state transition diagram 400 of FIG. 4 orany other polling state transition diagram controlling a pollingparameter(s) using RUCD based on a single control parameter) is depictedin FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary embodiment of state transition control logicfor controlling state transitions for a polling parameter using RUCDwhere the state transitions are controlled based on a single controlparameter and downward state transitions also are controlled using atimer-based transition control mechanism. For purposes of simplifyingthe description, remaining in the same state based on processing ofinput data (e.g., a value of a control parameter) will be considered tobe a state transition to the same state (e.g., a state may have a numberof internal parameters, and values of at least some of these internalparameters may change even when the system remains in the same state).It will be appreciated that, although state transition control logic 500provides control over state transitions based on a timer-basedtransition control mechanism, state transition control logic 500 may beadapted to provide control over state transitions based on any othersuitable type of transition control mechanism (e.g., a counter, athreshold, or the like, as discussed in additional detail hereinbelow).

At box 502, the polling frequency state S of the device is at a currentpolling frequency state S_(i). The polling frequency state S of thedevice may have just transitioned to current polling frequency stateS_(i) or may already have been operating at current polling frequencystate S_(i). The current polling frequency state S_(i) may or may notalready have an associated timer A_(i) (which is used to control statetransitions for the polling frequency state S) running. As depicted inFIG. 5, the polling frequency state S of the device, based on values ofthe control parameter p and an associated timer A, may transition downto a lower polling frequency state S_(i-1), remain at the currentpolling frequency state S_(i), or transition up to a higher pollingfrequency state S_(k).

At box 505, a value of control parameter p is received. The value of thecontrol parameter p may be the last polled value of control parameter p,where control parameter p is a parameter for which polling of the deviceis performed.

At box 510, a state of the control parameter p is identified based onthe value of the control parameter p. The determination of the state ofcontrol parameter p may include determining two threshold values t_(k-1)and t_(k) such that t_(k-1)<p≦t_(k).

At box 515, a determination is made, based on the current pollingfrequency state S_(i) of the device and the identified state of thecontrol parameter p, as to whether a state transition is needed (whichalso may be a determination as to a type of state transition that isneeded). This determination may be made by determination whether i(associated with the current polling frequency state S_(i)) is lessthan, equal to, or greater than k (associated with the polling frequencystate S_(k) indicated by the value of control parameter p). There arethree possible outcomes of this determination, including: (1) adetermination is made that i=k, which indicates that an even-shift isperformed (the polling frequency state S of the device remains atcurrent polling frequency state S_(i)), and state transition controllogic 500 proceeds to box 520, (2) a determination is made that i>k,which indicates that an up-shift (also referred to herein as an upwardtransition) is needed, and state transition control logic 500 proceedsto box 525, or (3) a determination is made that i<k, which indicatesthat a down-shift (also referred to herein as a downward transition) ispotentially needed (down-shift will only take place after expiration ofthe timer A_(i)), in which case state transition control logic 500proceeds to box 530.

At box 520, timer A_(i) for current polling frequency state S_(i) isterminated and state transition control logic 500 proceeds to box 503(i.e., an immediate up-shift occurs such that the polling frequencystate S of the device transitions to a higher polling frequency stateS_(j)). It will be appreciated that state transition control logic 500may then be applied again using the higher polling frequency state S_(j)as the current polling frequency state S_(i) at box 502 of statetransition control logic 500.

At box 525, timer A_(i) for current polling frequency state S_(i) isterminated and state transition control logic 500 proceeds to box 502(i.e., the polling frequency state S of the device remains at currentpolling frequency state S_(i)). It will be appreciated that statetransition control logic 500 may then be applied again.

At box 530, timer A_(i) for current polling frequency state S_(i) isstarted if it is not already running and state transition control logic500 proceeds to box 502 (i.e., the polling frequency state S of thedevice remains at current polling frequency state S_(i)). In this case,the identified state of the control parameter p indicates that adown-shift to a lower polling frequency state S_(i-1) should occur;however, since a controlled down-shift mechanism based on the timerA_(i) is being used, the down-shift to a lower polling frequency stateS_(i-1) is only performed if the timer A_(i) expires (as discussed belowwith respect to box 535 of state transition control logic 500). It willbe appreciated that state transition control logic 500 may then beapplied again.

At box 535, timer A_(i) for current polling frequency state S_(i)expires and state transition control logic 500 proceeds to box 501(i.e., the polling frequency state S of the device transitions to thelower polling frequency state S_(i-1)). It will be appreciated that if,at any time, timer A_(i) for current polling frequency state S_(i)expires as indicated in box 535, state transition control logic 500transitions to box 501 irrespective of processing associated with anyother boxes of state transition control logic 500. It will beappreciated that state transition control logic 500 may then be appliedagain using the lower polling frequency state S_(i-1) as the currentpolling frequency state S_(i) at box 502 of state transition controllogic 500.

It will be appreciated that state transition control logic 500 may beadapted to form a state transition control process which may be executedby a processor to control state transitions for a polling parameterusing RUCD where the state transitions are controlled based on a singlecontrol parameter using a timer-based transition control mechanism.

It will be appreciated that, although primarily depicted and describedwith respect to use of a timer-based transition control mechanism toprovide control over state transitions for a polling parameter, statetransition control logic 500 may be adapted to provide control overstate transitions for a polling parameter based on any other suitabletype of transition control mechanism (e.g., a counter, a threshold, orthe like, as discussed in additional detail hereinbelow).

It will be appreciated that, although primarily depicted and describedwith respect to embodiments in which state transitions for a set ofpolling parameters are determined based on a single control parameter,in at least some embodiments state transitions for a set of pollingparameters may be determined based on multiple control parameters.

In least some embodiments, state transitions for a set of pollingparameters may be determined based on multiple control parameters(denoted as control parameters p₁, . . . , p_(n)).

In at least some embodiments in which state transitions for a set ofpolling parameters may be determined based on multiple controlparameters, a function k=f(p₁, . . . p_(n)) that maps the set of controlparameters (p₁, . . . , p_(n)) to a real number k may be defined, and kmay be used to control state transitions for the set of pollingparameters. For example, the function k may be a linear combination ofthe multiple control parameters (e.g., k=p₁+p₂+p₃+ . . . +p_(n)). Forexample, the function k may be a weighted linear combination of themultiple control parameters (e.g., k=a₁*p₁+a₂*p₂+a₃*p₃+ . . .+a_(n)*p_(n), where the constants a_(i) represent the relative weightsof importance of the multiple control parameters relative to eachother). For example, the function k may include one or more higher-orderterms (e.g., p₁ ², p₂ ³, or the like). The function k may be defined invarious other ways.

In at least some embodiments in which state transitions for a set ofpolling parameters may be determined based on multiple controlparameters, the set of multiple control parameters (p₁, . . . , p_(n)),which also may be referred to as an N-dimensional control parameterspace of the multiple control parameters (p₁, . . . , p_(n)), may bepartitioned into a set of control parameter regions R_(j), j=1 . . . M(which also may be referred to as control regions R_(j)). The controlparameter regions R_(j) may be non-overlapping control parameterregions, although it will be appreciated that, in at least someembodiments, at least some overlap between at least some of the controlparameter regions may be supported.

The control regions R_(j) may have respective sets of polling parametersassociated therewith and may be used to control polling statetransitions between the respective sets of polling parameters and, thus,to control the manner in which polling is performed. In this sense, thecontrol regions Rj may correspond to states S_(i) in a polling statetransition diagram, where the polling states have the respective sets ofpolling parameters associated therewith and transitions between thepolling states are controlled based on the control regions R_(j). As inthe single control parameter embodiments, the set of polling parametersmay include one or more polling parameters, such as one or more ofpolling frequency, the information for which polling is performed, theset of devices to be polled, or the like, as well as variouscombinations thereof. It will be appreciated that, when the set ofpolling parameters is in state S_(i), the last set of collected valuesfor the multiple control parameters (p₁, . . . , p_(n)) may not benecessarily in region R_(i), as the state transitions between the statesmay be performed based on RUCD.

In at least some embodiments, the control regions R_(j) are associatedwith respective corresponding control regions R_(j)* (where a controlregion R_(j)* also may be referred to as the predecessor of R_(j)). Thecontrol regions R_(j) and corresponding control regions R_(j)* areconfigured such that when the set of polling parameters is in a controlregion R_(j) and a decrease in the set of polling parameters isindicated (e.g., based on a timer, counter, threshold, or other pollingtransition control mechanism), the set of polling parameters transitionsto the corresponding region R_(j)*.

The partitioning of multiple control parameters into a set of controlregions R_(j) and use of the control regions R_(j) to control pollingbased on a polling policy may be better understood by way of an example.Namely, consider an example in which two control parameters arepartitioned to form a set of control regions and the control regions areused to control changes to a polling policy used to control polling of aset of devices at a residential location (e.g., for polling of STB 102and NTU 104 of RL 101 of FIG. 1). In this example, values for the twocontrol parameters are used to control a polling policy specifyingpolling frequencies with which the devices at the residential locationare polled. In this example, the following two control parameters areused to control polling of the set of devices: (a) a signal to noise(S/N) ratio (SNR) of NTU 104, and (b) a frame loss rate (FLR) afterforward error correction at STB 102 (e.g., based on an assumption thatSTB 102 can detect frame loss through the use of sequence numbers oranother suitable mechanism). In this example, the SNR values arecollected from NTU 104 at RL 101, while the FLR values are collectedfrom STB 102 at RL 101. It is noted that, as the value of the SNRincreases, NTU 104 would perform better and, thus, the negative of theSNR is used as the value of the control parameter in this example. Inthis example, the two-dimensional control parameter space is partitionedinto eight regions, as illustrated by exemplary control parameterpartitioning 600 depicted in FIG. 6 and, thus, the polling policy to becontrolled based on the two-dimensional control parameter space haseight states (S₁, . . . , S₈) associated therewith, as illustrated byexemplary polling state transition diagram 700 depicted in FIG. 7.

As depicted in FIG. 6, the parameter space defined by the SNR parameterand the FLR parameter is partitioned into eight control regions basedon: (1) a partition boundary which is a straight line that partitionsthe parameter space into two halves, where the straight line is definedby the equation a*p1−b*p2=k, where p1 and p2 represent the SNR parameterand the FLR parameter, respectively (and, without loss of generality, itmay be assumed that a and b are positive numbers), (2) a set of threethresholds associated with the SNR parameter (illustratively, thresholdst₁, t₂, and t₃), and (3) a set of three thresholds associated with theFLR parameter (illustratively, thresholds w₁, w₂, and w₃). For example,region 1 is defined by the following conditions: (a) p1 (the value ofthe SNR parameter)<t₁, (b) p2 (the value of the FLR parameter)<w₁, and(c) a*p1−b*p2≧k. Similarly, for example, region 5 is defined by theconditions: (a) p1 (the value of the SNR parameter)<t₁, (b) p2 (thevalue of the FLR parameter)<w₁, and (c) a*p1−b*p2<k. Other regions maybe similarly defined, as depicted in FIG. 6.

As depicted in FIG. 7, the eight regions defined in FIG. 6 (namely,defined based on the parameter space of the SNR parameter and the FLRparameter) correspond to eight states arranged in a state transitiondiagram that is configured to control polling of the set of devices atthe residential location. The eight states of the state transitiondiagram (1) have respective sets of polling parameter values associatedtherewith for controlling polling of the set of devices of theresidential location and (2) have respective state transition conditionsassociated therewith for controlling transitions between the states. Adescription of an exemplary polling policy for the eight regions of FIG.6 and the eight states of FIG. 7 follows. Regions 1 and 5 of FIG. 6correspond to states (illustratively, states S₁ and S₅ of FIG. 7) inwhich the set of devices at the residential location is behavingnormally and, thus, the NTU and the STB may be polled at nominalfrequencies, respectively. Regions 2, 3, and 4 of FIG. 6 correspond tostates (illustratively, states S₂, S₃, and S₄ of FIG. 7) in which theSNR parameter is degrading more than the FLR parameter and, thus, itbecomes desirable to poll the NTU more frequently than the STB. Regions6, 7, and 8 of FIG. 6 correspond to states (illustratively, states S₆,S₇, and S₈ of FIG. 7) in which the FLR parameter is degrading more thanthe SNR parameter and, thus, it becomes desirable to poll the STB morefrequently than the NTU. The polling frequencies for this exemplarypolling policy are depicted in Table 1, which follows.

TABLE 1 Polling Frequency Polling Frequency Region State NTU STB 1 S1 f0g0 2 S2 f1 g0 3 S3 f2 g1 4 S4 f3 g1 5 S5 f0 g0 6 S6 f0 g1 7 S7 f1 g2 8S8 f1 g3 f0 < f1 < f2 < f3 and g0 < g1 < g2 < g3

It will be appreciated that, although primarily depicted and describedwith respect to specific partitioning of the N-dimensional controlparameter space (p₁, p₂, p₃, . . . , p_(n)) represented by the multipleparameters into a specific number of regions, the partitioning of FIG. 6and the associated state transition diagram of FIG. 7 are merelyexamples and, further, that various other configurations of partitioningand state transition diagrams may be supported. For example,partitioning may be performed using fewer or more regions. For example,partitioning may be performed such that the resulting regions areorganized in other configurations. For example, the regions can bedefined in other ways, e.g., based on values other than thresholds(e.g., based on discrete values, keywords, or the like), based on othertypes of functions (e.g., based on other types of linear functions,using non-linear functions, or the like), or the like, as well asvarious combinations thereof). For example, the state transition diagrammay have fewer or more (as well as different) transitions (e.g.,different up-shift paths, different controlled down-shift paths, or thelike, as well as various combinations thereof). For example, the twodown-shift paths in the example of FIGS. 6 and 7 are distinct, but thesetwo down-shift paths could be merged (e.g., by merging regions R₁ and R₅of FIG. 6 into a single region R₁₅, and replacing states S₁ and S₅ ofthe state transition diagram of FIG. 7 with a new state S₁₅ such thatthe two down-shift paths merges at the new state S₁₅. It is noted that,in the above example, the merging of region 1 and 5 is desirable as theyhave the same polling policy. The flexibility of partitioning and statetransition diagrams that may be supported enables support for many typesof adaptive polling policies.

It will be appreciated that the state transition control logic for suchembodiments may be similar to the state transition control logic forembodiments in which a single parameter is used to control statetransitions for the polling frequency parameter (as depicted in FIG. 5).An exemplary embodiment of state transition control logic forcontrolling state transitions for a polling parameter based on multiplecontrol parameters (e.g., for polling state transition diagram 700 ofFIG. 7 or any other polling state transition diagram controlling apolling parameter(s) using RUCD based on multiple control parameters) isdepicted in FIG. 8.

FIG. 8 depicts an exemplary embodiment of state transition control logicfor controlling state transitions for a polling policy using RUCD wherethe state transitions are controlled based on partitioning of themultiple control parameters into regions and downward state transitionsalso are controlled using a timer-based transition control mechanism.For purposes of simplifying the description, remaining in the same statebased on processing of input data (e.g., a value of a control parameter)will be considered to be a state transition to the same state (e.g., astate may have a number of internal parameters, and values of at leastsome of these internal parameters may change even when the systemremains in the same state). It will be appreciated that, although statetransition control logic 800 provides control over state transitionsbased on a timer-based transition control mechanism, state transitioncontrol logic 800 may be adapted to provide control over statetransitions based on any other suitable type of transition controlmechanism (e.g., a counter, a threshold, or the like, as discussed inadditional detail hereinbelow).

At box 802, the polling policy state S of the device is at a currentpolling policy state S_(i). The polling policy state S of the device mayhave just transitioned to current polling policy state S_(i) or mayalready have been operating at current polling policy state S_(i). Thecurrent polling policy state S_(i) has a set of polling parameters andassociated polling parameter values (e.g., values of one or more pollingparameters such as the polling frequency, the information collectedduring polling, or the like) associated therewith. The current pollingpolicy state S_(i) may or may not already have an associated timer A_(i)(which is used to control state transitions for the polling policy stateS) running. As depicted in FIG. 8, the polling policy state S of thedevice, based on values of the multiple control parameters (π=(p₁, p₂,p₃, . . . , p_(n))) and an associated timer A, may transition down to alower polling policy state S_(i)*, remain at the current polling policystate S_(i), or transition up to a higher polling policy state S_(j). Itis assumed that partitioning of the multiple control parameters in theset of multiple control parameters (π=(p₁, p₂, p₃, . . . , p_(n))) intoa set of control regions R has already been performed.

At box 805, values of the multiple control parameters in the set ofmultiple control parameters (π=(p₁, p₂, p₃, . . . , p_(n))) arereceived. The values of the multiple control parameters in the set ofmultiple control parameters (π=(p₁, p₂, p₃, . . . , p_(n))) may be thelast polled values of the multiple control parameters in the set ofmultiple control parameters (π=(p₁, p₂, p₃, . . . , p_(n))), where themultiple control parameters in the set of multiple control parameters(π=(p₁, p₂, p₃, . . . , p_(n))) are the parameters for which polling ofthe device is performed.

At box 810, a state of the set of multiple control parameters (π=(p₁,p₂, p₃, . . . , p_(n))) is identified based on the values of themultiple control parameters in the set of multiple control parameters(π=(p₁, p₂, p₃, . . . , p_(n))) and the partitioning of the multiplecontrol parameters in the set of multiple control parameters (π=(p₁, p₂,p₃, . . . , p_(n))) into the set of control regions R. The determinationof the state of the set of multiple control parameters (π=(p₁, p₂, p₃, .. . , p_(n))) may include determining the region R_(j) indicated by thevalues of the multiple control parameters in the set of multiple controlparameters (π=(p₁, p₂, p₃, . . . , p_(n))). The region R_(j) indicatedby the values of the multiple control parameters in the set of multiplecontrol parameters (π=(p₁, p₂, p₃, . . . , p_(n))) has a set of pollingparameters associated therewith.

At box 815, a determination is made, based on the current polling policystate S_(i) of the device and the identified polling policy state of theset of multiple control parameters, as to whether a state transition isneeded (which also may be a determination as to a type of statetransition that is needed). There are three possible outcomes of thisdetermination, including: (1) a determination is made that an even-shiftis performed (the polling policy state S of the device remains atcurrent state polling policy state S_(i)), in which case statetransition control logic 800 proceeds to box 820, (2) a determination ismade that an up-shift is needed, in which case state transition controllogic 800 proceeds to box 825, or (3) a determination is made that adown-shift is potentially needed (down-shift will only take place afterexpiration of the timer Ai), in which case state transition controllogic 800 proceeds to box 830.

At box 820, timer A_(i) for current polling policy state S_(i) isterminated and state transition control logic 800 proceeds to box 803(i.e., an immediate up-shift occurs such that the polling policy state Sof the device transitions to a higher polling policy state S_(j)). Itwill be appreciated that state transition control logic 800 may then beapplied again using the higher polling policy state S_(j) as the currentpolling policy state S_(i) at box 802 of state transition control logic800.

At box 825, timer A_(i) for current polling policy state S_(i) isterminated and state transition control logic 800 proceeds to box 802(i.e., the polling policy state S of the device remains at currentpolling policy state S_(i)). It will be appreciated that statetransition control logic 800 may then be applied again.

At box 830, timer A_(i) for current polling policy state S_(i) isstarted if it is not already running and state transition control logic800 proceeds to box 802 (i.e., the polling policy state S of the deviceremains at current polling policy state S_(i)). In this case, theidentified polling policy state of the set of multiple controlparameters indicates that a down-shift to a lower polling policy stateS_(i)* should occur; however, since a controlled down-shift mechanismbased on the timer A_(i) is being used, the down-shift to a lowerpolling policy state S_(i)* is only performed if the timer A_(i) expires(as discussed below with respect to box 835 of state transition controllogic 800). It will be appreciated that state transition control logic800 may then be applied again.

At box 835, timer A_(i) for current polling policy state S_(i) expiresand state transition control logic 800 proceeds to box 801 (i.e., thepolling policy state S of the device transitions to the lower pollingpolicy state S_(i)*). It will be appreciated that if, at any time, timerA_(i) for current polling policy state S_(i) expires as indicated in box835, state transition control logic 800 transitions to box 801irrespective of processing associated with any other boxes of statetransition control logic 800. It will be appreciated that statetransition control logic 800 may then be applied again using the lowerpolling policy state S_(i)* as the current polling policy state S_(i) atbox 802 of state transition control logic 800.

It will be appreciated that state transition control logic 800 may beadapted to provide a state transition control process which may beexecuted by a processor to control state transitions for a pollingpolicy using RUCD where the state transitions are controlled based onmultiple control parameters using a timer-based transition controlmechanism.

It will be appreciated that, although primarily depicted and describedwith respect to use of a timer-based transition control mechanism toprovide control over state transitions for a polling policy, statetransition control logic 800 may be adapted to provide control overstate transitions for a polling policy based on any other suitable typeof transition control mechanism (e.g., a counter, a threshold, or thelike, as discussed in additional detail hereinbelow).

It will be appreciated that, although primarily depicted and describedwith respect to embodiments in which each polling policy state onlysupports down-shifting to a single predefined predecessor polling policystate, in at least some embodiments one or more of the polling policystates may support down-shifting to multiple predefined predecessorpolling policy states. In at least some embodiments, a down-shift policymay be associated with a polling policy state for controllingdown-shifting from the polling policy state to multiple other pollingpolicy states in accordance with the down-shift policy. As an example,the down-shift policy for a polling policy state may depend on thevalues of the multiple control parameters in the set of controlparameters (π=(p₁, p₂, p₃, . . . , p_(n))). In at least someembodiments, support for transitioning of a polling state to multipleother polling policy states may be implemented by modifying statetransition control logic 800 such that the transition is not to a singlepredefined polling policy state S, but, rather, is determined based on adown-shift policy specified for the polling policy state S_(i).

It will be appreciated that, although primarily depicted and describedwith respect to embodiments in which specific numbers of regions aredefined based on specific numbers and combinations of multiple controlparameters, any suitable numbers of regions may be defined based on anyother suitable numbers or combinations of multiple control parameters.

It will be appreciated that, although primarily depicted and describedwith respect to embodiments in which use of multiple control parametersto control state transitions is performed based on a combination of themultiple parameters, in at least some embodiments use of multiplecontrol parameters to control state transitions may be performed bydecomposing the set of multiple control parameters into multiple subsetsof control parameters (which also may be referred to herein asdecomposing a system representing a set of control parameters intomultiple subsystems). It will be appreciated that such embodiments maybe better understood by reconsidering the example of FIGS. 6 and 7 inwhich the information collected from the device includes values of a setof control parameters that includes SNR and FLR parameters. In thisexample, rather than partitioning the SNR and FLR parameters into asingle integrated set of eight regions, the SNR and FLR parameters maybe decomposed into two single-parameter subsets of control parameterswith the SNR parameter forming a first subset and the FLR parameterforming a second subset. As an example, let the states associated withthe control parameter subset for the SNR parameter be T₁, T₂, T₃, andT₄, and let the timer associated with state T_(i) be denoted as B_(i).Similarly, let the states associated with the control parameter subsetfor the FLR parameter be U₁, U₂, U₃, and U₄, and let the timerassociated with U_(j) be denoted as C_(j). The state of the set ofcontrol parameters including the SNR and FLR parameters is determined bythe set of states (T_(i), U_(j)), i=1, 4 and j=1, 4. A set of pollingpolicies is assigned for the set of states, with respective pollingpolicies _(ij) being assigned for the states (T_(i), U_(j)),respectively. The assignment of polling parameters gathered for the setof states is configured to be consistent in that (1) f_(ij)<f_(kj) ifi<k, and (2) f_(ij)<f_(ik) if j<k, (3) for all l, j, and k. It is notedthat it will be possible that two timers B_(i) and C_(j) are runningconcurrently. When timer B_(i) expires, the control parameter subset forthe SNR parameter will transition from T_(i) to T_(i-j), and the timerC_(j) may be allowed to continue running or may be retired (although itis noted that the former embodiment may be preferable to the latterembodiment as the former embodiment tracks the dynamics of the systembetter). The exemplary state transition diagram for the decomposition ofthe two control parameters as described above is depicted in FIG. 9. Asdepicted in FIG. 9, exemplary state transition diagram 900 supportsvarious state transitions based on combinations of values of the SNR andFLR parameters. It is noted that, for purposes of clarity, statetransition diagram 900 of FIG. 9 only includes the downward statetransitions, but that any state can transition upwards to any higherstate at any time.

It will be appreciated that, although primarily depicted and describedwith respect to embodiments in which specific numbers of subsets ofcontrol parameters having specific numbers of control parametersincluded therein are defined based on specific numbers and combinationsof multiple control parameters, any suitable numbers of subsets ofcontrol parameters having any suitable numbers of control parametersincluded therein may be defined based on any other suitable numbers orcombinations of multiple control parameters.

It will be appreciated that although primarily depicted and describedindividually, in at least some embodiments a combination ofdecomposition and partitioning may be used in order to control statetransitions for a set of polling parameters. For example, a set ofmultiple control parameters may be decomposed into multiple subsets ofcontrol parameters and, for one or more of the subsets of controlparameters including multiple control parameters, the multiple controlparameters of the subset of control parameters then may be partitionedinto one or more sets of regions, respectively. For example, where acombination of ten control parameters is to be used to control a set ofpolling parameters, the set of ten control parameters may be decomposedinto three subsets of control parameters including four, three, andthree control parameters, respectively, and the subset of controlparameters including four control parameters may then be partitionedinto a set of sixteen regions based on the four control parameters. Forexample, where a combination of eight control parameters is to be usedto control a set of polling parameters, the set of eight controlparameters may be decomposed into a first subset of control parametersincluding four of the control parameters and a second subset of controlparameters including four of the control parameters, the first subset ofcontrol parameters may be further decomposed into two subsets of controlparameters (e.g., a first subset of control parameters including one ofthe four control parameters and a second subset of parameters includingthe other three of the four control parameters) and the second subset ofcontrol parameters may be partitioned into a set of regions. It will beappreciated that the foregoing examples are merely a few of the manyways in which decomposition and partitioning may be used together tocontrol a set of polling parameters based on a set of multiple controlparameters. Thus, it will be appreciated that any suitable numbers andcombinations of decomposition and partitioning, into any suitable numberof layers of control parameters arranged in various ways, may besupported.

It will be appreciated that, in at least some embodiments, decomposingor partitioning of a set of control parameters may be based on one ormore factors (e.g., the environment in which polling is performed, thetype(s) of devices being polled, the control parameters being used tocontrol polling, the intended use of the information collected viapolling, or the like, as well as various combinations thereof).

It will be appreciated that, although primarily depicted and describedherein with respect to use of timer-based state transition controlmechanisms to control downward transitions between states for control ofpolling of a device, other types of state transition control mechanismsmay be used to control downward transitions between states for controlof polling of a device. As noted above, other types of state transitioncontrol mechanisms may include counter-based state transition controlmechanisms, threshold-based state transition control mechanisms, or thelike.

In at least some embodiments, in which a counter-based state transitioncontrol mechanism is used to control downward transitions betweenpolling states, rather than starting a timer for a current state of astate transition diagram, a counter is initialized for a current stateof a state transition diagram. In at least some embodiments, the countermay be initialized to have a value of N with an operation as follows foruse in controlling downward transitions between states: (a) each timethe device is polled, the counter is decremented by one (1) and (b) whenthe counter reaches a value of zero (0), the polling state transitionsdownward from the current state to a lower state as specified by thestate transition policy of the current state. In at least someembodiments, the counter may be initialized to have a value of 0 with anoperation as follows for use in controlling downward transitions betweenstates: (a) each time the device is polled, the counter is incrementedby one (1) and (b) when the counter reaches a predefined thresholdvalue, the polling state transitions downward from the current state toa lower state as specified by the state transition policy of the currentstate. It will be appreciated that other implementations ofcounter-based state transition control mechanisms are contemplated.

In at least some embodiments, in which a threshold-based statetransition control mechanism is used to control downward transitionsbetween polling states, different sets of thresholds may be defined forcontrolling upward transitions and downward transitions between pollingstates. Examples of threshold-based state transition control mechanismsfor state transitions controlled based on a single control parameter andstate transitions controlled based on multiple control parameters aredepicted and described with respect to FIGS. 10 and 11, respectively.

FIG. 10 depicts an exemplary polling policy in which state transitionsare controlled based on a single control parameter using athreshold-based state transition control mechanism for downwardtransitions between states. The exemplary polling policy 1000 of FIG. 10includes four states and a state transition control mechanism in which afirst set of thresholds (t₁, t₂, and t₃) governs upward transitionsbetween states and a second set of thresholds (w₁, w₂, and w₃) governsdownward transitions between states where t_(i)>w_(i). The operation ofthe state transition control mechanism may be better understood byconsidering an example. Namely, consider an example in which the currentstate is S₃. In this example, determination of state transitions basedon the next value of the control parameter p may be made as follows: (1)if the next value of the control parameter p exceeds t₃, transitionupward from the current state S₃ to state S₄, (2) if the next value ofthe control parameter p is between w₂ and t₃, remain in current stateS₃, (3) if the next value of the control parameter p is between w₁ andw₂, transition downward from the current state S₃ to state S₂, and (4)if the next value of the control parameter p is less than w₁, twodownward transition policies are possible as follows: (4a) transitiondownward from the current state S₃ to state S₂ (i.e., to the next statein the state hierarchy, which may be referred to as a strict downwardtransition policy) or (4b) transition downward from the current state S₃to state S₁ (i.e., to the state which corresponds to the current valueof the control parameter p, which may be referred to as a loose downwardtransition policy).

FIG. 11 depicts an exemplary polling policy in which state transitionsare controlled based on multiple control parameters using athreshold-based state transition control mechanism for downwardtransitions between states. The exemplary polling policy 1100 of FIG. 10includes eight regions defined based on partitioning of two controlparameters as depicted and described with respect to FIG. 6 (namely,based on partitioning of an SNR parameter and an FLR parameter intoeight regions). As depicted in FIG. 10, the state transition controlmechanism of FIG. 10 is different than the state transition controlmechanism of FIG. 6 in that the state transition control mechanism ofFIG. 10 supports, for each of the two parameters, two sets of thresholdsgoverning upward transitions between regions and downward transitionsbetween regions, respectively. Illustratively, for the SNR parameter, afirst set of thresholds (t₁, t₂, and t₃) governs upward transitionsbetween regions and a second set of thresholds (w₁, w₂, and w₃) governsdownward transitions between regions. where t_(i)>w_(i). Similarly, forthe FLR parameter, a first set of thresholds (y₁, y₂, and y₃) governsupward transitions between regions and a second set of thresholds (z₁,z₂, and z₃) governs downward transitions between regions. wherey_(i)>z_(i). It will be appreciated that, although depicted anddescribed with respect to use of a single threshold to control lateralstate transitions (denoted by the diagonal line controlling transitionssuch as between regions R₁ and R₅, between regions R₂ and R₆, and soforth), multiple thresholds also may be used to control lateral statetransitions. Thus, in general, it is possible to have separateboundaries between any adjacent regions such that upward, lateral, anddownward transitions between regions may be controlled based on variouscombinations of thresholds. It will be appreciated that both strict andloose downward transition policies may be defined for downwardtransitions between regions. As previously indicated, the terms “state”and “region” may be used interchangeably herein, because each region maybe considered to be a state having a polling policy and a statetransition control policy associated therewith, respectively.

It will be appreciated that, although primarily depicted and describedwith respect to embodiments in which polling of a device is controlledbased on parametric control information (namely, a set of controlparameters including one or more control parameters), in at least someembodiments polling of a device may be controlled based onnon-parametric control information. In at least some embodiments, a setof control regions may be defined based on non-parametric controlinformation, and the set of non-parametric control regions may be usedto control the polling of a device based on non-parametric inputinformation. The set of control regions defined based on non-parametriccontrol information may be referred to as a set of non-parametriccontrol regions. The non-parametric control information may include theset of non-parametric information which may be received asnon-parametric input information such that, when non-parametric inputinformation is received for use in controlling polling of a device, thenon-parametric input information may be evaluated based on the set ofnon-parametric control regions. The non-parametric control informationand, thus, the non-parametric input information, may include free-formtypes of information (rather than defined parameters having defined setsof values associated therewith), such as keywords, phrases, textstrings, or the like, as well as various combinations thereof. Thedefinition of a set of non-parametric control regions based onnon-parametric control information may be performed by analyzing the setof non-parametric control information (e.g., the full set ofnon-parametric input information that will or can be received) in orderto define the set of non-parametric control regions based on the set ofnon-parametric control information. The use of a set of non-parametriccontrol regions to control polling of a device based on non-parametricinput information may include receiving non-parametric input informationand using state transition control logic associated with the set ofnon-parametric control regions for determining transitions between thenon-parametric control regions based on the non-parametric inputinformation and a state transition control mechanism. The use of a setof non-parametric control regions to control polling of a device mayutilize any suitable state transition control mechanism for controllingdownward transitions (e.g., timer-based, counter-based, or the like).The use of a set of non-parametric control regions to control polling ofa device based on non-parametric input information may be performed in amanner that is similar to control over polling of a device based onparametric input information (e.g., similar to the state transitioncontrol logic 800 of FIG. 8 for embodiments in which parametric controlinformation is used to control polling of a device). Accordingly,non-parametric control information and non-parametric input informationin embodiments of non-parametric-based control of polling may be similarto control parameters and values of control parameters in embodiments ofparametric-based control of polling.

The use of non-parametric control information to control polling of adevice may be better understood by considering an exemplary applicationof use of non-parametric control information to control polling of adevice (e.g., use of non-parametric keyword information from a troubleticket system of a network service provider to control polling ofdevices associated with the network service provider, such as may beperformed by the network service provider of FIG. 1 to control pollingof devices of RL 101 of FIG. 1). For example, assume that the networkservice provider of FIG. 1 offers cable TV service and Internet accessservice to customers, such as customers at RL 101. In a trouble ticketof the trouble ticket system (e.g., external system 150), there is afield that indicates the service that is affected and the severity ofthe trouble (denoted as the “service affected field”). For simplicity,it is assumed that both of the services have two levels of trouble. Forthe cable TV service, the levels are intermittent poor TV quality or theTV service is out (at least for some channels). For the Internet accessservice, the levels are that the Internet service is slow or theInternet service is out. As such, there are a total of nine possibleregions or states, defined in a hierarchy, for the consumer. Anexemplary partitioning of non-parametric input information into the nineregions for the trouble ticket system of the exemplary environment ofFIG. 1 is depicted in FIG. 12. As depicted in FIG. 12, the lowest levelof the hierarchy is the normal region R0 (i.e., no trouble ticketreported). In region R0, DCS 141 polls STB 102, RG 103, and NTU 104 atsome nominal polling rate (e.g., once every 4 hours, once every sixhours, or the like). Then, based on a determination that a troubleticket has been created for a trouble reported by the consumer, thenon-parametric control region with which the trouble is associated isdetermined by parsing the content of the service affected field of thetrouble ticket to determine the state of the trouble. The next highestlevel of the hierarchy includes regions R1, R2, and R3, which correspondto states in which one or both of the services are experiencingproblems, but are not out. The next highest level of the hierarchyincludes regions R4, R5, R6, and R7, which correspond to states in whichone of the services is out. The highest level of the hierarchy includesregion R8, which corresponds to a state in which both of the servicesare out. The non-parametric control regions R1-R8 have correspondingpolling policies associated therewith (e.g., where the polling policiesmay dictate one or more polling parameters, such as which of the devicesat the RL 101 are to be polled, the polling frequency with which thedevices at RL 101 are to be polled, the information to be collectedduring polling of the devices at RL 101, or the like). For example, ifthe TV service is affected, but the Internet access service is notaffected, it is more likely that the trouble will be at STB 102 or NTU104 and, thus, these two devices may be polled more frequently than RG103 (e.g., polling STB 102 and NTU 104 once every 30 minutes and pollingRG 103 once every four hours). For example, if the Internet accessservice is affected, but the TV service is not affected, it is morelikely that the trouble will be at NTU 104 or RG 103 and, thus, thesetwo devices may be polled more frequently than STB 102 (e.g., pollingNTU 104 and RG 103 once every 15 minutes and polling STB 102 once everysix hours). For example, if the TV service and the Internet accessservice are both affected, all three of the devices may be polled morefrequently with more emphasis being placed on polling of NTU 104 (e.g.,polling STB 102 and RG 103 once every 15 minutes and polling NTU 104once every 5 minutes). This example illustrates the manner in whichnon-parametric content of a trouble ticket related to reported troubleswith services supported by a set of devices may be used to map thereported troubles to regions configured for use in controlling pollingof devices in the set of devices supporting the services. It is notedthat subsequent updates to the trouble ticket also may triggertransitions between the regions R1-R8. It is noted that triggers fromexternal systems also may trigger transitions between the regions R1-R8.It is noted that, in FIG. 12, the arrows are used to illustrate thehierarchy of the regions R1-R8, and not necessarily the statetransitions.

It will be appreciated that, once the trouble ticket is mapped into oneof the non-parametric control regions, DCS 141 may perform polling whichresults in collection of values of parameters which may then be used asa basis for controlling additional polling of the devices based on thevalues of the parameters polled by DCS 141 (i.e., based on parametricinput information) and a set of parametric control regions defined basedon such parametric input information). In other words, variouscombinations of parametric and non-parametric regions and associatedinput information may be used to control polling of a set of devices, asdepicted and described more generally with respect to FIGS. 13 and 14.

It will be appreciated that the trouble ticket example of FIG. 12 ismerely one example of the way in which non-parametric information may beused to define a set of non-parametric control regions which may be usedto control polling of a set of devices. It will be appreciated that,although primarily depicted and described with respect to use of asingle field as a basis for defining non-parametric control regions, anysuitable number of fields may be used as a basis for definingnon-parametric control regions. Similarly, it will be appreciated that,although primarily depicted and described with respect to parsing of asingle field, any suitable number of fields may be parsed in order todetermine non-parametric input information which may be used forcontrolling polling of a set of devices. It will be appreciated that,although primarily depicted and described with respect to definition anduse of a specific number of non-parametric control regions, any othersuitable number of non-parametric control regions may be defined andused.

It will be appreciated, at least from the foregoing description, that aset of states or regions may be used to control polling of a set ofdevices. Each state or region may have a polling policy and a statetransition control policy associated therewith. The policing policy of astate specifies the manner in which polling of the set of devices isperformed when in that state (e.g., which may include one or morepolling parameters, such as one or more of an indication of whichdevice(s) in the set of devices is to be polled, a polling frequency,the information to be collected during polling, and the like). The statetransition control policy of a state specifies the state transitionssupported by that state (e.g., one or more upward transitions, one ormore downward transitions, the type(s) of state transition controlmechanism(s) used while in that state, specific values related to thestate transition control mechanism(s) used while in that state, or thelike, as well as various combinations thereof. It is noted that thestate transition control logic associated with a particular state orregion may be state transition control logic applied to some or all ofthe states or regions (e.g., state transition control logic does notvary across the states or regions) or state transition control logicspecific to the particular state or region (e.g., the state transitioncontrol logic does vary across at least some of the states or regions).It is noted that each of the states or regions may support one or moreupward state transitions and one or more downward state transitions. Itis noted that values of different polling parameters may be changed ondifferent state transitions (e.g., polling frequency may be changed onone state transition, polling frequency and the set of devices polledmay be changed on another state transition, the set of devices polledand the information to be collected from the set of devices polled maybe changed on another state transition, and so forth). An exemplary setof states/regions supporting use of at least one of parametric controlinformation and non-parametric control information to control polling ofa device is depicted in FIG. 13. As depicted in FIG. 13, the exemplaryset of states/regions 1300 may include any suitable number ofstates/regions which may be arranged in any suitable manner. As furtherdepicted in FIG. 13, each state/region S_(i)/R_(i) has a polling policyP_(i) and a state/region transition control policy C_(i) associatedtherewith. The polling policy P_(i) may specify values of one or morepolling parameters to be used for polling while in the state/regionS_(i)/R_(i). The state/region transition control policy C_(i) is basedon control information (which may include one or both of parametric andnon-parametric control information), one or more control mechanisms(e.g., timer-based, counter-based, threshold-based, or the like), adefined set of transitions, and the like.

It will be appreciated that, although omitted for purposes of clarity,the state transition control logic that is used for controllingtransitions between states may be implemented in various ways.

In at least some embodiments, state transition control logic that isused for determining, based on the current polling policy state S_(i) ofthe device and the polling policy state S indicated by the set ofmultiple control parameters, whether a state transition is needed (e.g.,boxes 515 and 815 of FIGS. 5 and 8, respectively) may utilize a set oftables configured to indicate the type of transition that is needed. Inat least some embodiments, for example, for each polling policy state,two tables are maintained and used as follows: (1) a table identifyingimmediate transitions is maintained, which lists each state in the setof states for which the state transition is to be performed immediatelybased on a determination that the polling policy state S indicated bythe set of multiple control parameters identifies that state, (2) atable identifying controlled state transitions is maintained, whichlists each state in the set of states for which the state transition isto be performed in a controlled manner based on a state transitionmechanism (e.g., based on a timer, counter, threshold, or the like), (3)the current polling policy state S_(i) of the device is always assignedto the table identifying immediate transitions, such that even-shifttransitions (in which the polling policy state S of the device remainsin the current polling policy state S_(i) of the device) and up-shifttransitions (in which the polling policy state S of the devicetransitions from the current polling policy state S_(i) of the device toa higher polling policy state S_(j) of the device) may be handledtogether (illustratively, boxes 520 and 525 of FIG. 5 may be merged withthe transition being to the polling frequency state indicated by step510 and, similarly, boxes 820 and 825 of FIG. 8 may be merged with thetransition being to the polling policy state indicated by step 810), and(4) it is possible that, for one or more states, the table identifyingcontrolled state transitions is empty (illustratively, the tableidentifying controlled state transitions would be empty for Regions 1and 5 of FIGS. 6 and 7, since there is no up-shift transition from theseregions). In at least some embodiments, for example, for each pollingpolicy state, three tables are maintained and used as follows: (1) atable identifying an even-shift transition is maintained, which liststhe current polling policy state S_(i) of the device, where the statetransition based on this table is to be performed immediately ratherthan based on a state transition control mechanism, (2) a tableidentifying up-shift transitions is maintained, which lists each statein the set of states for which an up-shift transition from the currentpolling policy state S_(i) of the device is supported, where statetransitions based on this table are to be performed immediately ratherthan based on a state transition control mechanism, and (3) a tableidentifying down-shift transitions is maintained, which lists each statein the set of states for which a down-shift transition from the currentpolling policy state S_(i) of the device is supported, where statetransitions based on this table are to be performed in a controlledmanner based on a state transition control mechanism. It will beappreciated that other table-based embodiments are contemplated.

In at least some embodiments, state transition control logic that isused for determining, based on the current polling policy state S_(i) ofthe device and the polling policy state S indicated by the set ofmultiple control parameters, whether a state transition is needed (e.g.,boxes 515 and 815 of FIGS. 5 and 8, respectively) may utilize a set ofinput information evaluation rules that is configured to indicate thetype of transition that is needed. For example, the input informationevaluation rules may be based on values of the control parameter(s)where polling is based on a set of control parameters, non-parametricinput information where polling is based on non-parametric controlinformation, or the like, as well as various combinations thereof. Forexample, in continuation of the example provided with respect to FIGS. 6and 7, the state transition control logic may be configured such that acontrolled down-shift transition occurs based on a determination that(1) f_(x)≦f_(y) and g_(x)<g_(y), and (2) either f_(x)<f_(y) org_(x)<g_(y), (3) where f_(x) and g_(x) are the polling frequencies ofthe NTU and STB in the current polling frequency state and where f_(y)and g_(y) are the polling frequencies of the NTU and STB in the newpolling frequency state if a transition to the new polling frequencyoccurs.

It will be appreciated that, in at least some embodiments, other statetransition control logic may be used for determining, based on thecurrent polling policy state S_(i) of the device and the polling policystate S indicated by the set of multiple control parameters, whether astate transition is needed (e.g., boxes 515 and 815 of FIGS. 5 and 8,respectively).

It will be appreciated, although primarily depicted and described withrespect to embodiments in which either parametric control information ornon-parametric control information is used to control polling of adevice, in at least some embodiments a combination of parametric controlinformation and non-parametric control information may be used tocontrol polling of a device. In at least some embodiments, variouscontrol regions may be defined based on a combination of parametric andnon-parametric control information. In at least some embodiments,decomposition also may be used for decomposing portions of the controlinformation. It will be appreciated that references herein to controlregions R_(j) also may be referred to as polling control regions R_(j)or, more generally, regions R_(j).

An exemplary embodiment of a more general process for using at least oneof parametric control information and non-parametric control informationto control polling of a device is depicted and described with respect toFIG. 14.

FIG. 14 depicts one embodiment of a method for using at least one ofparametric control information and non-parametric control information tocontrol polling of a device. It will be appreciated that, althoughdepicted and described as being performed serially in a particularorder, at least a portion of the steps of method 1400 may be performedcontemporaneously or in a different order than presented in FIG. 14. Atstep 1401, method 1400 begins. At step 1410, input control informationis received while in a current state/region. The input controlinformation is associated with a set of states/regions defined for usein controlling polling of the device. The set of states/regions definedfor use in controlling polling of the device may be based on at leastone of parametric and non-parametric information and, thus, the inputcontrol information may include on at least one of parametric andnon-parametric input information. At step 1420, a state transition isdetermined based on state/region transition control logic (which may beapplied for each of the states/regions in the set of states/regionsdefined for use in controlling polling of the device, or which may bespecific to the current state) and the input control information. Thestate transition may be a transition within the same state (e.g., havingone or more different values of one or more internal parameters of thestate) or a transition to a new state. At step 1499, method 1400 ends.The operation of method 1400 may be better understood by way ofreference to FIGS. 1-13.

It will be appreciated that, although primarily depicted and describedwithin the context of use of adaptive polling for polling communicationdevices in a communication network, various embodiments of adaptivepolling depicted and described herein may be used in various othercontexts.

For example, various embodiments of adaptive polling depicted anddescribed herein may be used for adaptive polling of a personal sensornetwork of a firefighter (e.g., for polling one or more of anenvironmental temperature sensor, a heart rate sensor, or the like). Forexample, each of the sensors initially may be polled every two minutes.Then, if the value of one or more of the parameters increases close toits critical threshold, the polling frequency may be increased to onceeach minute or once every thirty seconds. Then, if the value of one ormore of the parameters increases close to its critical threshold, thefirefighter may be recalled.

For example, various embodiments of adaptive polling depicted anddescribed herein may be used for adaptive polling of a sensor network ofan environmental monitoring organization (e.g., polling for temperature,barometric pressure, wind speed, or the like). For example, each of thesensors initially may be polled every two hours. Then, if the value ofone or more of the parameters is indicative of a storm (e.g., drop inbarometric pressure, increase in wind speed, or the like), the pollingfrequency may be increased to once every thirty minutes or fifteenminutes to allow for more accurate tracking and forecasting of thestorm.

It will be appreciated that various embodiments of adaptive pollingdepicted and described herein may be used for adaptive polling in anyother suitable environments or applications in which use of adaptivepolling may be necessary or desirable.

FIG. 15 depicts a high-level block diagram of a computer suitable foruse in performing functions described herein.

The computer 1500 includes a processor 1502 (e.g., a central processingunit (CPU) and/or other suitable processor(s)) and a memory 1504 (e.g.,random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), and the like).

The computer 1500 also may include a cooperating module/process 1505.The cooperating process 1505 can be loaded into memory 1504 and executedby the processor 1502 to implement functions as discussed herein and,thus, cooperating process 1505 (including associated data structures)can be stored on a computer readable storage medium, e.g., RAM memory,magnetic or optical drive or diskette, and the like.

The computer 1500 also may include one or more input/output devices 1506(e.g., a user input device (such as a keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, andthe like), a user output device (such as a display, a speaker, and thelike), an input port, an output port, a receiver, a transmitter, one ormore storage devices (e.g., a tape drive, a floppy drive, a hard diskdrive, a compact disk drive, and the like), or the like, as well asvarious combinations thereof).

It will be appreciated that computer 1500 depicted in FIG. 15 provides ageneral architecture and functionality suitable for implementingfunctional elements described herein and/or portions of functionalelements described herein. For example, computer 1500 provides a generalarchitecture and functionality suitable for providing a data collectionserver configured to provide various embodiments of adaptive polling asdepicted and described herein. For example, computer 1500 provides ageneral architecture and functionality suitable for implementing STB102, RG 103, NTU 104, DCS 141, DAS 142, external system 150, or anyother device or combination of devices depicted and described herein.

It will be appreciated that the functions depicted and described hereinmay be implemented in software (e.g., via implementation of software onone or more processors, for executing on a general purpose computer(e.g., via execution by one or more processors) so as to implement aspecial purpose computer, and the like) and/or may be implemented inhardware (e.g., using a general purpose computer, one or moreapplication specific integrated circuits (ASIC), and/or any otherhardware equivalents).

It will be appreciated that some of the steps discussed herein assoftware methods may be implemented within hardware, for example, ascircuitry that cooperates with the processor to perform various methodsteps. Portions of the functions/elements described herein may beimplemented as a computer program product wherein computer instructions,when processed by a computer, adapt the operation of the computer suchthat the methods and/or techniques described herein are invoked orotherwise provided. Instructions for invoking the inventive methods maybe stored in fixed or removable media, transmitted via a data stream ina broadcast or other signal bearing medium, and/or stored within amemory within a computing device operating according to theinstructions.

It will be appreciated that the term “or” as used herein refers to anon-exclusive “or,” unless otherwise indicated (e.g., use of “or else”or “or in the alternative”).

It will be appreciated that, although various embodiments whichincorporate the teachings presented herein have been shown and describedin detail herein, those skilled in the art can readily devise many othervaried embodiments that still incorporate these teachings.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus, comprising: a processor and amemory communicatively connected to the processor, the processorconfigured to control polling of a device based on a set of pollingcontrol regions configured to control polling of the device, the set ofpolling control regions being defined based on categorization ofnon-parametric control information, the set of polling control regionscomprising at least two polling control regions, the processorconfigured to: receive, while in a current polling control region of theset of polling control regions, input information comprising at leastone of a set of values associated with a set of multiple controlparameters and non-parametric input information, wherein the currentpolling control region comprises at least one of a value of a pollingfrequency parameter or an indication of information to be collected fromthe device; determine a target polling control region, from the set ofpolling control regions, based on the input information; and determine atransition within the set of polling control regions based on thecurrent polling control region and the target polling control region. 2.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the non-parametric control informationcomprises at least one of a keyword, a set of keywords, a phrase, a setof phrases, or a text string.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein thetransition within the set of polling control regions comprises at leastone of an upward transition, an even transition, or a downwardtransition.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor isconfigured to determine the transition within the set of polling controlregions based on transition control logic that is configured to support:an immediate up-shift transition from the current polling control regionto a higher polling control region; and a controlled down-shifttransition from the current polling control region to a lower pollingcontrol region.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor isconfigured to determine the transition within the set of polling controlregions based on transition control logic configured to support at leastone of: a strict downward transition policy in which a downwardtransition from the current polling control region is required to be atransition to a next lower polling control region; or a loose downwardtransition policy in which a downward transition from the currentpolling control region is not required to be a transition to a nextlower polling control region.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein thecurrent polling control region comprises an indication of a set ofdevices to be polled.
 7. An apparatus, comprising: a processor and amemory communicatively connected to the processor, the processorconfigured to control polling of a device based on a set of pollingcontrol regions configured to control polling of the device, the set ofpolling control regions being defined based on a set of multiple controlparameters, the set of polling control regions comprising at least twopolling control regions, the processor configured to: receive, while ina current polling control region of the set of polling control regions,input information comprising at least one of a set of values associatedwith the set of multiple control parameters and non-parametric inputinformation, wherein the current polling control region comprises atleast one of a value of a polling frequency parameter or an indicationof information to be collected from the device; determine a targetpolling control region, from the set of polling control regions, basedon the input information; and determine a transition within the set ofpolling control regions based on the current polling control region andthe target polling control region; wherein the set of polling controlregions is defined based on at least one of: partitioning the set ofmultiple control parameters into the set of polling control regions;decomposing the set of multiple control parameters into multiple subsetsof control parameters and mapping the multiple subsets of controlparameters into the set of polling control regions; or decomposing theset of multiple control parameters into multiple subsets of controlparameters and, for at least one of the subsets of control parametersincluding at least two control parameters from the set of multiplecontrol parameters, partitioning the subset of control parameters toform at least two of the polling control regions.
 8. The apparatus ofclaim 7, wherein partitioning of the set of multiple control parametersinto the set of polling control regions is based on at least one of: aset of partition boundaries defined by at least one equation based ontwo or more control parameters in the set of multiple controlparameters; or a set of thresholds associated with at least one of thecontrol parameters in the set of multiple control parameters.
 9. Theapparatus of claim 7, wherein partitioning of the set of multiplecontrol parameters into the set of polling control regions is based on:for one of the control parameters of the set of multiple controlparameters: a first set of thresholds for use in controlling upwardtransitions based on the one of the control parameters; and a second setof thresholds for use in controlling downward transitions based on theone of the control parameters.
 10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein atleast one control parameter from the set of multiple control parameterscomprises a combined control parameter defined based on a combination ofat least two input control parameters.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10,wherein the combination of the at least two input control parameterscomprises at least one of: a linear combination of at least a portion ofthe at least two input control parameters; a weighted linear combinationof at least a portion of the at least two input control parameters; acombination of higher-order terms of at least a portion of the at leasttwo input control parameters; or a general function of at least aportion of the at least two input control parameters.
 12. The apparatusof claim 7, wherein the transition within the set of polling controlregions comprises at least one of an upward transition, an eventransition, or a downward transition.
 13. The apparatus of claim 7,wherein the processor is configured to determine the transition withinthe set of polling control regions based on transition control logicthat is configured to support: an immediate up-shift transition from thecurrent polling control region to a higher polling control region; and acontrolled down-shift transition from the current polling control regionto a lower polling control region.
 14. The apparatus of claim 7, whereinthe processor is configured to determine a transition within the set ofpolling control regions based on transition control logic configured tosupport at least one of: a strict downward transition policy in which adownward transition from the current polling control region is requiredto be a transition to a next lower polling control region; or a loosedownward transition policy in which a downward transition from thecurrent polling control region is not required to be a transition to anext lower polling control region.
 15. The apparatus of claim 7, whereinthe current polling control region comprises an indication of a set ofdevices to be polled.
 16. An apparatus, comprising: a processor and amemory communicatively connected to the processor, the processorconfigured to control polling of a device based on a set of pollingcontrol regions configured to control polling of the device, the set ofpolling control regions being defined based on at least one of a set ofmultiple control parameters and non-parametric control information,wherein at least one control parameter from the set of multiple controlparameters comprises a combined control parameter defined based on acombination of at least two input control parameters, the set of pollingcontrol regions comprising at least two polling control regions, theprocessor configured to: receive, while in a current polling controlregion of the set of polling control regions, input informationcomprising at least one of a set of values associated with the set ofmultiple control parameters and non-parametric input information;determine a target polling control region, from the set of pollingcontrol regions, based on the input information; and determine atransition within the set of polling control regions based on thecurrent polling control region and the target polling control region.17. A method, comprising: using a processor and a memory for:controlling polling of a device based on a set of polling controlregions configured to control polling of the device, the set of pollingcontrol regions being defined based on at least one of a set of multiplecontrol parameters and non-parametric control information, wherein atleast one control parameter from the set of multiple control parameterscomprises a combined control parameter defined based on a combination ofat least two input control parameters, the set of polling controlregions comprising at least two polling control regions, whereincontrolling polling of the device comprises: receiving, while in acurrent polling control region of the set of polling control regions,input information comprising at least one of a set of values associatedwith the set of multiple control parameters and non-parametric inputinformation; determining a target polling control region, from the setof polling control regions, based on the input information; anddetermining a transition within the set of polling control regions basedon the current polling control region and the target polling controlregion.